Blue Tulip sign goes missing in Elgin
Sacre bleu!
Who dared to steal the wooden Blue Tulip sign this week that, for the North East Neighborhood in Elgin, has grown to symbolize community spirit for 15 years?
Nobody knows, but the neighborhood is abuzz with the news and hopes a social media campaign brings it back.
Blue Tulip parties are held within the neighborhood at residents’ homes and only people on a select list can host. Party guests include friends, neighbors, city officials and local dignitaries. Six parties have been held so far this season. They’re a way to catch up with friends, make new ones and find out about neighborhood news. They are typically held on Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day and draw between 50 and 75 people.
“We always have had an awful lot of fun at these parties,” said Jerry Sorensen, coordinator of the Blue Tulips, a group that organizes the parties and maintains the invitation list. “We haven’t had a lot of problems.”
The party is not complete without the Blue Tulip.
Resident Betsy Couture, the sign’s keeper, gives the Blue Tulip to the eventual host, who puts it in front of his or her house so everyone knows where the party is.
Gail Cohen was to host Friday’s party. She put the sign in the tree bank between her home and her neighbor’s on Cedar Avenue and had last seen it Wednesday night. She discovered it missing Thursday morning.
“I feel bad that after so many years of the tulip being the sign of a party and good times that it got taken on my watch,” said Cohen, also head of human resources for the city of Elgin.
The tradition began 15 years ago when neighbors said the sign was found in a garbage can in the 700 block of Douglas Avenue, Couture said. For three years, the sign rotated around people’s yards within the neighborhood. Deciding that the sign needed a purpose, they started organizing parties around it. In the early days, if you found the sign in your yard Monday, you knew you’d be throwing the party on Friday.
“It’s a symbol of our neighborhood and a symbol of camaraderie,” Couture said.
“I’m looking for that thing. I hope they filed a police report.”
Cohen has shied away from involving police, saying officers have more pressing matters to deal with. Her husband Ross Schennum has offered to make a replacement Blue Tulip sign.
As well, resident Laurie Faith Gibson-Aiello, who lives in the neighborhood, plans to launch a campaign on Facebook, Twitter and on the area’s email list she hopes leads to the sign’s safe return.
“ ... So many Elginites would instantly recognize it when seen,” she said. “I have high hopes it will be returned shortly.” But the sign is not essential to keep the party going.
“If we don’t get that one back it doesn’t matter,” Sorensen said. “We’ll have a better one.”
If you know anything about the missing sign, call Couture at (847) 741-3561.